Daniel Hale Williams was born in Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania January 18,1858. His parents were Daniel Williams Jr. and Sarah Price Williams who had eight children. His father was a barber and was a very religious and proud father of his children. However, he died of tuberculosis in 1867 when Daniel was only nine years old. Therefore, Sarah and her kids moved to Baltimore to live with relatives because they were a poor family.
             Daniel was forced to take on jobs at n early age. He became an apprentice to a cobbler, a shoemaker, for three years and also a laborer on a lake steamer. He attended Hare's Classical Academy in 1877. After he graduated from there, he and his sister began traveling looking for job opportunities. He and his sister found jobs in Janesville, Wisconsin where they both began working in a barbershop. While working in the barbershop, Daniel met Henry Palmer who was a leading physician and surgeon general in Wisconsin. Although Daniel was only 16 when he met Dr. Palmer, he saw the special qualities that Daniel possessed. Dr. Palmer took him as an apprentice in 1878. Dr. Palmer then helped pay for Daniel to attend the Chicago Medical College, which was affiliated with Northwestern University and was considered one of the best medical schools in the nation. Daniel graduated with an M.D. in 1883.
             After graduation Daniel took on an internship at mercy Hospital in Chicago. He then went on to open his own medical office on the south side of Chicago. He had to open his own practice because of the racism he faced in Chicago's hospitals that did not allow black doctors to use modern medical facilities. In 1885, he became an instructor of anatomy at Chicago's Medical College. He then served as a doctor for the City Railroad Company, the Southside Dispensary, where he practiced medicine and surgery, and the Protestant Orphan Asylum.
             He was considered a great surgeon and doctor who treated both white and b...